Salesforce Formulas
Pulsar directly supports evaluating Salesforce formulas both online and offline.
- Supports formula fields
- Supports default value field formulas (during initial record creation)
- All numeric, logical, string, and date/time operators and functions are supported
- Most summary and advanced functions are supported (some server-side-specific functions are not supported)
- Set pulsar.formula.enableSFDCFormulas Pulsar Setting to TRUE to enable this functionality in the Pulsar mobile app
Best practices and caveats
- If there is both a Salesforce formula and a Pulsar Settings Langugae (PSL) formula (see below) for the same field, the PSL formula takes precedence, and the Salesforce formula is ignored
- Salesforce formulas and PSL formulas across objects/fields should not interact (e.g., if FormulaFieldA__c is a Salesforce formula and FormulaFieldB__c is a PSL formula, the result is undefined if they reference each other).
- Formula fields are calculated on-the-fly every time you view a record detail page (but not when editing)
- Currently due to processing limitations, formula fields are NOT calculated in list views. Stale values may be shown in list views unless steps are taken to persist calculations (see below).
Offline persistence of formula field calculations
By default, due to inherent processing limitations, formula field calculations are not persisted to the local database when offline.
This is often not a problem for organizations for various reasons. For many organizations, user interactions with formula fields are usually only on record detail pages (where these formulas are always dynamically calculated). Furthermore, formula field calculations are synced from Salesforce servers and persisted to the local database when online during record creation and updates, or when Pulsar next syncs offline created/updated records. When online or syncing there is always a readback that picks up server-side calculations.
But for some organizations, when running offline in Pulsar, the lack of persistence of formula field calculations can present a problem. This usually happens in the following two scenarios: (1) formula fields present in list views, and (2) customizations that directly query formula fields from the database (e.g. querying via PSL or via the Javascript API).
Luckily there is a mechanism from PSL (as well as the Javascript API, documented elsewhere) to calculate and persist formula fields to explicitly avoid stale data problems.
DEFAULT{
Action=CalculateSaveFormulas;
ObjectType=<ObjectAPIName>;
ObjectIds=<Optional comma-separated list of object Ids. If empty/unspecified, will operate on all records of ObjectType>;
WhereClause=<Optional WHERE clause to programmatically select specific Ids>;
FormulaFields=<Optional comma-separated list of fields. If empty/unspecified, will operate on all formula fields of the ObjectType>;
}
Let's say, for example, you want to ensure that all formula fields on the Account object are always kept up-to-date in the local database. You can create an OnSave PSL Trigger (see the next section in the wiki about PSL Validation Rules and Triggers). The following example PSL will accomplish that:
DEFAULT{
Action=SetVar;
VarName=Account_Id;
VarValue=@@CurrentObjectId@@;
|
Action=CalculateSaveFormulas;
ObjectType=Account;
ObjectIds=%%Account_Id%%;
}
WARNING: this can be an incredibly expensive operation if you do not specify any filter criteria. In the example above, had we not specified the ObjectIds parameter, then the calculation and persistence would run on all Account records!
PSL Formulas
Originally, Pulsar did not support evaluating Salesforce formulas, and instead offered similar functionality through logic implemented in Pulsar Settings Language (PSL).
Because PSL leverages the power of raw SQL, you can create complex formula logic that exceeds what Salesforce formulas can perform. We recommend that you use Salesforce formulas where possible, and only use PSL formulas if you absolutely need to.
PSL Formulas are implemented via a group of flexible Pulsar Settings that define the fields affected, the order in which they are processed, and the formula logic in PSL for each field. Just as in Salesforce formulas, default values are used during record creation and formula fields are used to calculate the proper values for fields throughout the life of the record.
Please note that regardless of the values calculated for formula fields in Pulsar, if the same field has a formula defined on Salesforce, the Salesforce formula supersedes the Pulsar formula when the record is synced to the server.
Usage
Formula fields and default value formulas follow an identical pattern when defined using Pulsar Settings. For each affected object or record type:
- Specify which fields to process and the order in which they should be processed (Field Order Settings)
- Describe the logic or calculation that must occur (Formula Settings)
Field Order Settings
The formula field order and default value field order settings both allow you to specify a list of field API names separated by commas, newlines, or semicolons. The setting key optionally allows you to narrow the scope to a specific record type.
Formula Field Order Setting Format
Name: Object Name – Formula Field Order
Key: pulsar.<object API name>[.<record type developer name>].formulaFieldOrder
Value: Field1APIName, Field2APIName, Field3APIName, ...
Example:
Name: Order Line Item – Formula Order
Key: pulsar.Order_Line_Item__c.formulaFieldOrder
Value: Unit_Price__c,Total_Discount__c,Amount__c
Default Value FIeld Order Setting Format
Name: Object Name – Default Value Field Order
Key: pulsar.<object API name>[.<record type developer name>].defaultValueFieldOrder
Value: Field1APIName,
Field2APIName,
Field3APIName,
...
Example:
Cheque_Number__c
Formula Settings
Defining the formulas associated with the default value or formula fields requires using PSL. The only requirement is to use the SetFieldInMemory action to set the resulting value to the field in question. The setting key optionally allows you to narrow the scope to a specific record type, as with the field order settings above.
Formula Field Formula Setting Format
Name: Object Name – Formula Field – Field Name
Key: pulsar.<object API name>[.<record type developer name>].<field API Name>.formula
Value: Pulsar Settings Language
Example:
Name: Order Line Item – Formula Fields – Unit Price
Key: pulsar.Order_Line_Item__c.Unit_Price__c.formula
Value: See the code below. Notice that the last action is the SetFIeldInMemory action.
DEFAULT{
Action=SetVar;
VarName=UnitPrice;
VarValue=Product__r.Unit_Price__c;
|
Action=SetFieldInMemory;
FieldType=General;
FieldName=Unit_Price__c;
FieldValue=%%UnitPrice%%;
}
Default Value Formula Setting Format
Name: Object Name – Default Value Field – Field Name
Key: pulsar.<object API name>[.<record type developer name>].<field API Name>.defaultvalue
Value: Pulsar Settings Language
Example:
Name: Cheque – Default Value Field – Cheque_Date__c
DEFAULT{
Action=SetVar;
VarName=ThisDay;
VarValue=@@Today;
|
Action=SetFieldInMemory;
FieldType=General;
FieldName=Cheque_Date__c;
FieldValue=%%ThisDay%%;
}